Gift Giving Guide for Loved Ones in a Nursing Home

Throughout the year, friends and family bring gifts to residents at The Maplewood for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day, Christmas, Easter, and other special occasions. We are often asked by family and friends about appropriate gifts ideas, so we have put together this handy gift-giving guide.

When choosing gifts for residents, please consider factors such as storage space, ease of use, safety, and changing interests and abilities.

For Maplewood, a Rochester nursing home, family members, feel free to contact the nursing staff if you have questions, concerns, or if you’re wondering what your loved one might need in particular.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Real or silk flowers or small plants
  • Fruit or flowers of the month
  • Balloon, cookie or fruit bouquet. Be sure to check with your loved one’s unit nurse first.
  • Gift cards from local merchants.
  • Gift certificates to our hair salon, A Cut Above
  • Clothes (unless the closet is already too full!), or colorful, inexpensive jewelry
  • Slippers, lap robes, memory quilts, shawls, decorative scarves, hats/gloves
  • Small amount of scented lotions, perfume, or cologne. We provide basic toiletries, but it’s nice to have special selections.
  • Comforts of home – family pictures, calendars, etc.
  • Photo albums or scrapbooks of the resident’s life, for example, family, homes and communities where your loved one has lived, pets, etc. It’s nice to share memoirs with fellow residents! Offer time to help your loved one make an album or scrapbook.
  • Video photo frames with pictures already loaded
  • Box of assorted cards, stationery, and stamps. Perhaps include pre-printed mailing labels of frequent addresses.
  • Sign-in books for visitors to tell how the visit was spent
  • Clock with large numbers and lighted dial
  • Radio, tape player, CD player, DVD player with music/movie selections
  • Simple holiday decorations to dress up your loved one’s room. Offering to help take them down is also great.
  • Hearing aid batteries
  • Electric shaver and/or replacement heads
  • Electric toothbrushes and/or replacement brushes
  • Catch-all bags for wheelchairs or walkers

Have fun shopping and, more importantly, cherish the joy you bring to others.

One more idea to keep in mind! Your loved one may appreciate the opportunity to give to others. Is someone’s birthday approaching? Let them give their own card or gift, and send it or deliver it for them.